Well yesterday about 3:45 Zine completed his chemo treatment. Monday night was definitely the absolute worst of the whole week. I asked him if he wanted lunch Wednesday, and he replied, “No, I just want to be done and go home.” He finished in good spirits and due to all the IV steroids he has had, he actually feels pretty good right now. I know when the steroids are out of his system then the fatigue will set in most likely. But for the next few days, I expect him to feel better! However, his immune system is plummeting down down and down and will be at it’s lowest point in two weeks. It will take months for his lymphocyte system to rebound! To be honest, it has only been about the past three months that I could say Zine felt well from the chemo. So I’m thinking it took that long for it to build totally back up….and now we have blasted it again! But despite our desire to NOT do this again, we both felt at peace that this was the right decision. And we are grateful to be done with chemo and moving into recovery mode.
As we explained last year, it is important for us that we go to extra precautions for Zine. When a patient who is immobile develops pneumonia, they are at a huge risk of complications. As long as you are mobile, you have a much greater ability to fight things like pneumonia. So with Zine’s lungs already having pulmonary embolisms, not one but many many many embolisms, combined with his immobility leads us into extra protection mode to say the least.
We believe that God has given us a mission field wherever we are. So we find our mission field often are nurses or other patients and families. So with a bit of help on the home front, we were able to surprise the wonderful nurses with some goodies! They were super appreciative.
They also shared the goodies with the other patients getting chemo! And the whole room was incredibly enthusiastic!
We also had the opportunity to just encourage some people who are really struggling in their fight against MS. We all have many things in common. But how we deal with them are totally different. Zine and I do not always do things perfectly. Last year there was no encouraging other people while we were there. We were doing good just to function. But this year God allowed us some opportunities to love and encourage a few others. How thankful I am for what God has done in our life over the past year. I still have a hard time saying thank you for all the horrible times we have had but I can without a doubt give thanks for the things we have learned and the progress we have made in our marriage and in our faith.
We are home and quickly remembering last year’s routine! And we are super duper thankful that routine does NOT include head lice!!!!
I have had a flare up with my shoulder. I’m sure part of it is stress related. I’m sure the other part of it is possibly holding Krisann a lot or trying to help Zine on Monday when he was so weak. But it has been giving me fits! I have walked around with my fingers dug in my chest for several days and it just feels like I have a ton of bricks sitting on my rib cage. I think I am just worn out physically. I have absolutely no energy. But a nap time is in my future in just a few minutes I’m certain!
Thank you all for your prayers as we have endured some very difficult days this week. We are glad to have it behind us and can now focus on recovering.
